The Necroman's apprentice
by Gae-ta
Summary: uh...based on a idea from Phantom-D, Manta runs away from home and bumps into a certain necromaner... yeah, alternative story... since I can't write a proper summary u might jus as well go and read a book instead. yea, think the library IS still open...
1. Chapter 1

Oh gosh… here goes another attempt for a fic… I do not own Shaman king and since I really have no idea how to make money out of this, there's no use in suing me. And please note, the original idea was Phantom-D lots of cred to her. You can find her on deviantart, check out her gallery if you like this fic.

And to Phantom-D, first I already written the storyline, how it'll go, somethings might be changed but I think this first chapter came out pretty well, :3 tell me what u think.

**The Necroman's apprentice. **

Manta was silently crying, everywhere on his body that had been ripped and torn was bleeding and burning. His father had beaten him aging. But this time it had been much longer and much, much harder than ever before. Even though Manta closed his eyes and clapped his hands over his ears so he wouldn't hear his mother and sisters sobs the room under him, he still couldn't shut out the voice that was trapped within his head.

"_I am going to beat out every bit of that, that, perverse things you have in mind and hopefully beat some sense into you too." _

All he ever wanted was to scream. But Manta knew he shouldn't, that would get him into more trouble.

'_Why?' _ He thought while crying his heart out.

Because Mansumi had found out his big secret.

Manta had never had a dream of his own, his only future was to when he was old enough, to take over Oyamada cooperation. That was his future, the future that had been decided for him the same day he had been born. And for that, he'd always been the student that was studying hardest in school. Because he got a hell if he didn't perform perfectly. And because of that, Manta was a pretty lonely person with no real friends. All that ever was, was study study study. Yet, even though he had know that he'd really get into trouble for it if anyone found out, he had kept a secret porn magazine hidden under the mattress in his bed. But it wasn't that normal kind of porn, no, such things would only have been seen as natural, but now when it was a fact that it contained pictures of naked boys… that was something completely different. That was something very wrong, and he'd been punished for it.

Slowly he got up, he had decided something, and there was a fire burning in his eyes that couldn't be seen before.

'_I need to get away from here, before it kills me' _

Quickly he packed all the things he reckon he needed, yet he made sure to keep it light. Never know when you need to be as light at possible when you need to run for your life. Manta knew that the door was guarded, all of them was. So instead he climbed out through his window and then started climbing down the drainpipe.

A gentle breeze ruffled his hair slightly, and he looked down. At once he closed his eyes and gulped.

''_Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down…' _

And slowly he continued to climb down to the ground, letting out a little sight of relief. Then was the main gate, surely heavily guarded with hi-tech cameras, or usually.

Manta smirked, there was an upside to have studied as much technology as he had. To put out the cameras was simple than anyone could think. So now he could just open the huge iron-gates, walk through them, and closed them behind him as he left.

He looked up at the star spotted sky, was it just him, or did the stars be extra bright this night? He had walked for an hour now, maybe two but just when he was about to look at his arm watch he felt a cold wind pass by. He shivered and looked up.

The old graveyard, on the hill of it, it was…

He remembered once upon time when he'd been all into ghost stories, he'd go there and sit for a quiet moment of peace and of horror. He'd wondered what it'd be like to see ghosts but in the end he had matured and gone on (besides his mum didn't like his interest so much.)

But now when he looked up he saw something, or rather felt something. What first only looked like a shadow, sorta turned into something else. Now he thought he knew what it was, but it didn't really make any sense.

'_a, a grim reaper?' _ That was what it looked like, glowing red eyes, a scythe, and a creepy glow that convinced Manta that this wasn't jus a cozplay-kid that have gotten lost.

'_Na..ni?' _

But then for the second time that night he felt a cold shiver down his spine and he was like hearing the voices of two men in his head.

"_He went this way, didn't he?" _At once he recognized it as the voice of Kuroi, one of the family's caretakers.

"_Yeah, I saw him go this way, Mr. Mansumi was right that he might run away after all…" _

Manta had heard enough. Quickly he climbed over the iron gates, careful to make just as little sound as possible and yet hurry. It was a difficult task but he managed to get to the other side of it (since it was so old and worn it would be suicide to try and open it.) He ran over the old cemetery as fast as fast as his little legs could carry him, gosh, he didn't even want to think about what would happen if he got caught. It was more pure instinct than anything else that guided him now. It was as if he knew that the old doors weren't locked, that you could just open them just a tiny bit and slip in and then close them behind you. And that was what he did, yet somehow he felt that the men was getting nearer, he felt their presence getting closer. Quickly he ran and hid under one of the benches.

Yeah, maybe not a great idea but now it was a fact that he was all out of ideas.

He curled up tight into a little ball, clutching his backpack. The stone floor was so cold, he closed his eyes when he felt the men's presence aging. Aging he heard their voices inside his head.

"_So what do you reckon? Maybe he's hiding somewhere up at that old cemetery_?"

'_NO! Don't come here, don't come here, please don't come up here!!' _Manta screamed mentally.

"…"

"_Well? What do you think?"_

'_Ohgosh,ohgoshohgoshnononononoono, I'm not here! I'M NOT HERE!' _

"…_No, he's probably not there, he's probably just walking on since he have no idea that we're following him. To go up there might just be a waste of time and we might loose him."_

"_Yeah, you're right" _

Then Manta felt how those two men walked down the rest of the pavement, getting further and further away from him. But it wasn't until much later, when he didn't feel any slightest presence of the two men that he dared to crawl out from under the bench. He was cold and stiff, as he looked around in the empty church. And he noted a sound that was rapidly growing stronger.

'_Rain…' _

No use to go on tonight, for the time being he was safe. Slowly he pulled out a blanket from his backpack and as he sat down against a pillar, he wrapped it around him. Hoping to get some warmth.

Slowly he drifted away into sleep, totally unaware about those two blue eyes that were watching him with a slight sparkle of interest.

**End of chapter one, now review my pretties! laughs manically **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chappie two. **

Manta stirred as he slowly came back to conscious aging. He hugged tighter around his blanket but he felt that something was missing, but what? He couldn't recall.

"So you have finally decided to wake up now, ne?" At the sound of a man's smooth voice Manta at once felt wide awake.

"W-who's there?" He said without a chance to hide his fear. Inside he cursed himself for it.

"There is no need to worry, I will not harm you but I fear that my dog might have dragged away your belongings somewhere." The voice was very calm and not frightful, yet Manta twitched slightly when he looked up to see who it was. Then he lifted an eyebrow at the slightly (or, maybe pretty) odd character that stood before him. It was a very tall and pale man. He was dressed in a long white doctor-coat and his hair was shaggy blond. Manta also noted that under the man's deep blue eyes he had huge bags as if not sleeping very well in a long time. Then Manta understood what the man meant, his backpack was gone.

The pale man watched with a slight hint of amusement at Manta's light panic.

"Frankensteiny, come her boy!" He called out and then the sound of paws could be heard. He smiled aging faintly, "He's one loyal dog but rather playful." He mused.

Manta did something that was between a squeak and a shriek as he saw the dog. It wasn't that it was carrying his backpack, it was that it was entirely made of bones and nothing else.

"There there, Frankensteiny, we're no thieves, give it back to this young boy." And the dog carried away the backpack and gave it to Manta who was in a deep state of chock but accepted the backpack without thinking.

"A… a skeleton dog?" He said with slight doubt, first he had seen a reaper, then felt that he'd been followed and now this? Was he going insane? Quickly he stood up and took a step backwards, at once regretting it. He had forgotten how badly wounded he was. He sank down to the floor with a slight whimper and with a grimace of pain. Now the pale man's smile was gone and he looked with very serious eyes at Manta.

"Are you all right?" But Manta didn't really have the time to answer as he was scooped up. Now the pale man started taking off his jacket.

"Eh?! What are you-" But Manta forgot what was saying as he saw the pale man examine his wounded arms.

"These cuts need to be cleaned, surely they do not look infected but be rather safe than sorry." Manta was put down on a bench as the man started looking through a briefcase with his back turned to Manta.

"Are you a doctor?" Manta asked, though he couldn't understand what a doctor could be doing there. Weren't they supposed to at a hospital or something like that?

"Yes, I am a doctor and now I suggest that if you have any more wounds that you take off the rest of your clothes so they can be cleaned too." Manta bit his lip, a blush was growing on his cheeks.

"There is no reason to be embarrassed, I am a professional." The doctor said as he rubbed a piece of cotton wool that had been dipped with disinfectant against Manta's skin. Manta gasped and whimpered slightly at the sudden pain. The doctor gave him a glance.

"It's better like this, believe me. Now, is it just your arms or the rest of your body? But this one does look like it continues up your arm." He pointed alongside an especially long cut. Manta looked at the floor, but then took off his t-shirt, revealing how badly hurt he was. The doctor frowned slightly but then started cleaning the rest of them. Even though Manta tried to, he couldn't ignore the pain. He sighted inside with relief when it finally was over. The doctor closed his briefcase and gave Manta a second of privacy as he put his clothes back on.

"So, who did this to you?" The doctor asked, glancing at Manta to see his reaction. Manta had known that this question would come, how could it not?

"My dad." He said simply.

"Oh? That's why you're here? You ran away? Have this been happening a long time?"

Manta sighted and nodded weakly.

"Yeah, he has beaten me before but never this bad."

"Is it because you can see ghosts?"

"What do you mean?" Manta gave a sad frown as he looked up.

"Oh? You mean that you don't know your ability? Then allow me to explain, you see my dog there, right?" He pointed at 'Frankensteiny.'

"Yeah?" the fact that he was already getting used to the thought of a skeleton dog disturbed Manta, but it simply didn't seem too unnatural after all, with thinking of all the things that had happened lately.

"Then you also see that weak glow around him?"

"…yeah, I do see a faint glow." Before Manta really hadn't paid attention to it but now he noticed.

"That means that you have enough sixth sense to see ghosts, other people would probably only see the skeleton."

Manta nodded but then come to think of something.

"Can you see ghosts?"

"Oh" he gave a low chuckle, "I can do much more than that, watch." He snapped his finger. "Come to me, Eliza!" Manta saw a new spooky glow and a new skeleton, a human skeleton walk into view, she was carrying something that didn't look too far from a scythe except that it looked more like a cross.

"Say hi to my lovely wife Eliza." He gestured at the skeleton with a loving sparkle in his eyes. "I am not just a simple shaman but a necroman, a person who can review the dead." 'Eliza' walked over to the doctor and he gently stroke his finger over her skull, Manta now noticed that it was cracked and had a bullet hole in it. Apparently that was how she had died.

"Um, how do you do?" Manta asked awkwardly, well, how do you greet a seemingly living, dead, skeleton? But Eliza did not reply and at once Faust grew sad.

"Though, I cannot fully reawake her, since I do not have her soul. I can make her move, let her walk by my side, yet I cannot speak to her." His face was full of grief. "But one day I will, I will speak to her, I will dance with her like I did before, one day." He said with grim determination. "To hear her voice aging…" The last words he said merely as a whisper, yet Manta could hear every word. Manta nodded slowly, he could clearly see that it was true love.

"What is a shaman?" Manta asked suddenly, remembering hearing the word.

"Uh, sorry what did you say now?" Apparently the doctor had been too lost in thought.

"What is a shaman? And necromancy, how does it work?" Manta couldn't help the fact that he was curious, he'd always been and now there was a whole new world opened to him.

"Well", said the doctor, "a shaman is a person who communicates with the other world. Or in other words he can use spirits to get abilities that he does not have on his own or he can use it to fight other shamans. And necromancy… well, it is a bit complicated but I'll try my best to explain." He half sat down, half leaned against one of the benches. "Even though the souls do leave the body, some parts of it are always stuck in it, or in the bones at least. Then you use your mana to reawaken the bones, make them join together so they can move and such."

"What is mana?" Manta had never heard of such word before.

"Ah, mana is…" the doctor sought for the right words, "the power you have in your soul, and is used when you materialize a ghost. It is very tempting in the beginning but it's bearable as soon as you get used to it." He gave Manta a glance, measuring up how much the boy was capable of and smiled a little. "So how come you ask? Just curious? Or is it something more?"

"Ah, eh…" Manta trailed off with a faint blush. "Just curious I guess…" Manta looked away, he felt a bit awkward, had he been too forward? But the doctor just smiled gently.

"Yes… it is a good thing… to be curious. That's how you discover things. And how you learn…" The doctor looked at Manta, it was a pretty nice boy this one, able to see ghosts and willing to learn new things.

"You have nowhere else to go now," He suddenly spoke out. "If you return home you'll only get abused, am I right?"

Even though Manta hated to admit it, he really had no plan, nowhere he could go.

"No… I can never go back…" It was true, he didn't even dare to think about the things that would happen if he did that. He stared at the stone floor, feeling rather hopeless.

"Then, what do you say about coming with me?"

"Huh?" Manta looked up.

"Since you have nowhere else to go, what do you say about becoming my apprentice? Not that I am entirely sure but you seem gifted enough to be a shaman, and I won't mind having you around."_ 'In fact it might be nice to have someone around.'_

"You… really mean it?" Manta's eyes were wide open as he looked at the necromancer who nodded, then said in a somewhat bemused voice:

"Then I take it as a 'yes, I'd love to'"?

"Well, since I really have no place to go it would be okay with me." Manta could hardly believe what was happening.

"Good, then I can also teach you medicine, it is not fitting for a doctor of my age to not have an apprentice." Then Manta came to think of something that made him feel slightly awkward.

"Uh… by the way, what's your name? I'm Manta."

"I am Johann Faust VIII, and it's nice to meet you Manta." Faust said with a soft smile.

**End of chappie two. Okay, it feels like a little weird place to end it but otherwise they'd get into this dialogue and the chapter would get too long. I think I did this one fairly good, I tried to not make it awkward when Manta met Faust, I hope I wrote it good enough. **

**Oh, and to you Roxtrox7, sorry about the spelling mistakes, for some reason word (that I'm writing with) not respond to correct 'aging' when it's spelled again. Sorry, besides since English is not my first languish I'm very grateful that somebody point out my mistakes. (funny though, in school they say that I'm pretty good at English, but when I try to use it in real life, it suck.) **

**Herr Angel-D (is it u Phantom-D?) THANKIES! 3 nobody has ever said such nice comments about my work before X3! **


	3. Chapter 3

**again, do not own shaman king, and I promise that I won't make any money out of this. **

**Chapter three, **

Manta hid a huge yawn behind his hand. It was pretty early in the morning and both he and Faust were sitting inside a café while having breakfast.

"You're tired Manta?" Faust asked with a slight smile as he stirred his cup of tea.

"It's okay, guess that I'm just not used to sleep while traveling." It was true, they had traveled most night and early morning by train. And Manta had only slept lightly that night. He stared lazily out the window, at the people who hurried past. A few school students that had decided to go to school, but mostly it was middle age people. Probably going to work or possibly up early so they could spend the day shopping, though, it was only a few tourists that could be seen.

Manta stirred his tea while waiting for it to cool down enough to be drinkable. He glanced at his sandwich but he wasn't really hungry, yet. It always took a little while for Manta to feel hungry when just he had woken up.

Even though it was many people that hurried past outside, inside the café it was very calm, an elder couple sitting a few tables away. The woman took long sips of her beverage while the man frowned over a crossword. "Thievish bird at six letters… what could it be?" Manta could hear him mumble.

Now Faust tasted his tea, Manta watched carefully as he swallowed. Slowly something occurred to Manta.

"Your name Faust VIII" he said slowly, "are you related to the Faust from that legend?"

"Yes, he was my ancestor." Faust said simply, then rested his head on his hand, "My, you really have to be well-read, even though many have heard his name once or twice, it isn't really many people who know who he was." Manta blushed slightly and suddenly his tea became very interesting.

"Well, I just happen to stumble across that name once when I was looking through my dictionary. And it stood there that he was a scientist that was born around five hundred years ago and he was expert in alchemy and black magic. Then I checked up that legend. That the devil came to him in the shape of a poodle and said that in exchange of his soul he would give him awesome knowledge." Manta looked deeper into his tea as if he wanted to see the bottom of the cup.

"I just happened to remember it right now…" Then he looked up through his bangs. "Is the legend really true?" he asked shyly then he looked down in his cup again, afraid that he might have offended the doctor.

"Yes, the legend is very true indeed, or…" Faust smiled slightly, "If you squint maybe, but most of it is true or not that far away from the truth. But what the legend does not tell is that the original Faust, my ancestor, was a shaman. He used the devil Mephistopheles as his spirit ally as he battled other shamans, yet… in the end he was killed without finding the answers of life." Faust took another light sip of his tea before continuing. "But I, Faust the eight have inherited his powers, and thanks to that, I can revive my liebe Eliza." Faust let his fingers gently wander over his briefcase where Eliza and Frankensteiny laid hidden. Then he gave Manta a soft smile and said: "You know you better eat up now. To become a necroman is very tempting and you're going to need every bit of energy that you might get."

"Ah, you're right." Manta said as he took his first bite of his cucumber sandwich.

The next days endured a lot of traveling, most by train and the rest stops was usually either graveyards or sometimes even cheap hotels. However, when they we're not traveling Faust explained to basics of necromantic. And every night Manta had to train, either he was training his body or training his necromantic. When training necromancy Faust was reading a book, now and then looking up to check how it was going for his apprentice. Manta on the other hand had a hard time in trying to revive Frankensteiny. Or, well Faust wasn't really expecting Manta to be able to revive the dog at once, he pointed it out before the start, but he had explained all the basics and 

theory so now it was just up to Manta to figure out how it worked in practice. But that wasn't very easy.

Manta stared at the bones as if it would make them move, but of course he knew that it wasn't that simple. Faust had told him that a part of the soul always remained with the body, the bones, and to reawake an animal was simpler than reviving a human. Since an animal mostly consist of primal instincts. The thing was just that you had to find the remaining pieces of the soul, feel it, and then feed it with mana. Manta closed his eyes, there was simply no use in staring at the bones, in fact it was distracting. He sighted.

Try to feel the soul, try to feel the soul, try to… no. It was just mere words. Instead Manta tried to relax, empty his head of thoughts. He stroke his fingers over one of the bones, trying to think of something else at the moment. Blue sky and clouds… green fields… gentle and warm wind blowing…

"_You can't force it, it has to come to you" _Manta recalled Faust's words, and thought that he was beginning to understand.

Slowly, very slowly the pieces of the spine linked together. Manta could feel it. He didn't have to open his eyes. For his inner eye he could see them link together, becoming long, the tailbones attached to it.

It laid quivering on the ground for a moment, then the neck, the skull followed. The shoulder blades, the ribs naturally found where they were supposed to be. Hips, the legs, then the paws who contained a lot of small bones. Manta felt sweat dripping on his forehead, he felt exhausted but didn't want to stop, it was so close, it was so close. When the paws finally was linked, Manta could feel something that somewhat reminded of a pulse go through the bones, he made them move, commanded them to sit up. Now he opened his eyes. And saw Frankensteiny sitting before him, he then looked up at Faust. He had put away the book that he was reading, Faust smiled and nodded.

" Gut."

Manta smiled to himself before falling down on the floor of exhaustion.

**End of chapter three. **

**Gosh, so hope this chapter didn't suck too much. I also hope that I didn't make it too slow, but I think that anyone would have a hard time learning necromancy, don't you think? Anyhow, sorry if I did any mistakes, reviews are always appreciated. **

…**gawd, I really must get some sleep now, it's like past midnight and… am I some sort of vampire? **

**Oh! Just one more thing, I used to word 'mana' instead of furiyoko (that I can't even spell properly) cause I read the manga way before I watched the anime, I still don't get why they had to change the name for it, I mean it's the same thing! And I of course hate them for NOT having Manta's family in it, and what I think of the English dub (that I even refuse to see because it's so bad) I won't even mention. Just that… 4kidz are evil, VERY EVIL. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter four**

Manta fell out of the bed and laid whimpering on the floor. He didn't even bother to get up. Instead he only sobbed and curled up into a little tight ball, and that was also how Faust found him.

"Manta?" Faust squat down beside the boy, "What is wrong? Are you hurt?" Not too gently Faust uncurled Manta to get a better look at him. Manta looked up at the doctor with tears still running down his cheeks. Then he looked away, feeling ashamed of himself, why was he acting like this?

"It was a nightmare." Manta said with a hoarse voice, he wanted to say that he was okay now but that of course would be nothing but pure lie.

"I see." Faust said and slowly he stroke away the hair that had stuck in the tears.

"It-"Manta swallowed, "it was about father and… and I don't want to talk about it right now."

Faust nodded and then pulled Manta in an embrace. He knew. Faust had seen enough of the Manta's scars to guess what could've happened. Manta nuzzled his face deep into Faust's coat as he continued to cry.

'-'-'

Manta played with Frankensteiny while Faust was sitting in the sofa and reading a book, they would probably not stay at the hotel for much longer. Manta was scared that his father might be looking for him so they would soon return to Faust's home in Germany.

After finally flipping the last page of the book Faust closed his eyes, recalling and memorizing every word he had read. Then he picked up the remote and turned the TV on, flipping through the channels leisurely.

"Faust?" Manta asked suddenly and looked up from the floor.

"Yes?"

"Could I join you?" Manta nodded towards the TV.

"Of course Manta."

"Thanks" Manta stood up and sat down on the sofa, watching the news. And they both sat silent for a while, while the woman on the TV talked about the economy Manta didn't really listen. Instead he put up both his legs and wrapped his arms around them, staring at the floor absentmindedly.

"Faust?"

"Hm?" Faust turned away his eyes from the weather forecast and looked at the boy. "Nani?" he asked gently.

"That, that dream I had…" Manta trailed off, it was hard to find the right words.

"yes, what about it?"

"B-before when I lived with mother and father, sometimes when father thought I hadn't tried hard enough he would punish me." Manta swallowed and stared at the floor with empty eyes, glancing at Frankensteiny who was lying in his basket. "Sometimes he didn't just hit me, he forced me to study for hours without stopping and sometimes he didn't let me eat if I hadn't learned enough."

Faust looked at Manta, and his blood started to boil of hate towards the man he'd never met.

"But I think that the worst, the worst was the tub." Manta swallowed hard again, but this time a little trail of tears started running down his cheeks.

"Then… both my hands and feets were tied and I was put in the bathtub and they'd leave the shower on…" Manta bit his lip. "I remember it was so cold, after a while I was sure I was going to die." Manta hugged himself tightly as if feeling that cold again. "Usually I don't think about it that much, but-but, now all these dreams and they, they-" Now, finally Manta broke down fully, his head full of painful memories he'd give anything to just forget.

Faust said nothing as he saw the young boy cry. Then he wrapped his arms around him in a tight embrace.

'_Oh, Eliza, what should I do? What am I supposed to say? I'm not good at comforting people, you are, oh Eliza' _Faust thought of what his wife should do, then gently he stroke his hand hover Manta's head.

"It's okay Manta, I will take you far, far away from that bad man. He will not harm you again."

Manta looked up. "Hontoni?"

"Yes, it is a promise. I will make sure that he won't ever hurt you again." Manta's eyes widened then he buried his face in Faust's chest as new tears came.

"Thanks" he whispered quietly, and was silent for a little while.

"Father said that you are only are only a baby if you cry." He let out a bitter chuckle, "Guess that I really am one." Then he looked down again. "Yeah, I'm just a big baby…" Now his voice was only sad. Faust looked at the boy, feeling sad for the Manta. He'd been alone all his life and even though he'd never mentioned his mother, he guess that she hadn't been there to protect him. But worse of all, it was the young boys self-image. All his life being bruised and abused, and his future had even been decided for him the second he was born.

"You are not a baby." Faust said calmly, even though right now what he really wanted was to find that man, and kill him. But instead he focused on trying to comfort the boy.

"You are not a baby," he repeated, "you are a shaman and not a very bad one, believe or not, you are powerful. Way beyond your imagination. When we finally are in Germany I will prove it, mark my words. You are going to become a powerful necromancer."

Manta felt more like arguing against it, but chosed to stay quiet. Faust didn't know what else he could say but then remembered what Eliza had done when she had comforted kids at the hospital when they couldn't sleep. Quietly he began humming at first but then started singing an old German song. The very one that Eliza used to sing.

Manta didn't understand the words though, he looked up with question in his eyes. Faust smiled.

"It is an old song from Germany, it says that whenever you are feeling alone all you need to do is to look up at the sky. The moons and stars will see you and the night wind will dry your tears. Eliza often used to sing it." Then the doctor started singing the second verse, smiling gently as he thought of his liebe Eliza.

Even though Manta didn't understand the foreign words, he had to admit that they _were_ calming. And slowly he started drifting off to sleep in Faust arms, still listening to the song faintly.

Faust looked down at the sleeping boy.

'_And you who said that you weren't very good at comforting' _he imagined his wife's spirit saying while glancing at her skull. Then he looked down at the boy again.

"Don't worry Manta" he said in Germany, "Tomorrow is a new day and I am sure you'll feel better when you wake up." Then he started singing again.

**End of chapter four **__

**Sorry if this chapter sucks, it's just a filling chapter really. It will get better… hopefully. In next one they will travel to Faust's home in Germany and Manta's real training will start. And I'm also planning on letting Manta feel the changes that's happening inside him, but it's all to be written yet. **

**Anyhow, thanks for reading so now please review and PLEASE point out what I could do better. Gimme suggestions what should happen next, if they won't give me better ideas they'll at least inspire me to try harder. **

**-Crawls and hide under the bed- you may throw tomatoes at me for not updating often enough and not trying hard enough for making this chapter so very good… **


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five

The monotone movement and sounds of the train slowly rocked Manta to sleep. He was just at the brink of sleep when suddenly a bone skull nuzzled against his face. Lazily he opened his eye and then smiled sleepily.

"Morning Franky." Frankensteiny barked at hearing his nickname and cuddled his face into Manta's chest.

"H-hey! Stop that I'm ticklish there-"Then Manta burst into a fit of giggles. Faust looked over the book he was reading and smiled, was it just his imagination or did Manta look happier the closer to Germany they got? Finally Frankensteiny grew tired of torturing Manta and instead decided to rest on Manta's lap. Manta stroke his finger of Frankensteiny's skull, his shamanic powers really had improved since the first time he had revived the dog, now he could let him act like most dogs do without feeling exhausted. Manta looked out at the German-landscape. The sky was full of gloomy storm-clouds and the rain was pouring down.

As soon as they had reached Faust's home, Manta knew that his training would be much more intense that before, and whenever he wasn't training, he would have to study. So with a light sight he took his backpack and picked out the book that Faust had told him to read. He opened the book and started to skim through it to find where he had been reading the last time. But, in spite of all it wasn't all that bad, now it was at least without threats of violence and punishment if he failed.

Yes. On the contrary it wasn't bad at all. Manta couldn't help that little smirk on his lips as he sunk into the text, gently rocked by the steady movements of the train. So he didn't notice the doctor's eyes on him, and that Faust was smiling, too.

-'-'-'-'-'-'-'

'_I'm walking alone in a desert, tears are running down my cheeks, I don't even bother to try and wipe them away as I walk on. Stumble on rocks I __hardly__ can see in the night, while sobbing. I am not sure what I am running from, I only know that I can never turn back. _

_I stumble again, trip, and fall. I lay on the ground gasping in tries to regain my breath. Slowly I get up, sitting on my knees and looking up at the sky. _

_It's so huge. _

_And it's full of bright shining stars. I get up and start walking again. I don't know for how long I'm walking, just that suddenly I feel a heavy drop fall on my hand. But as I look at my hand I see that it's not water, IT'S BLOOD! New drops start falling from the sky and I see how my shirt starts to get stained crimson red. I scream and again I run._

_I need to find shelter. And find it. An old church. _

_Inside it is like another world. It's very still and quiet, strangely it give me a sense of… calm. I sit down on the floor in front of the altar. I close my eyes and listen to the heavy rain that's pouring down outside. Gradually I notice how my arms start to itch. I scratch myself but the itch won't go away, instead it grows worse. I look down. Huge cracks appear in my skin. Even though I don't want to… I can't help that I peel off my skin. It is like my old skin it two sizes too small, even though I don't want to, it need to come off, it's too itchy. And it falls off, almost like removing a pair of stockings or gloves. And underneath it's a whole new body… I'm not sure I like what I see. _

_Slowly I raise my hands to my face, I pray that at least my face will remain the same as I peel it off. I look at my old face, and then throw it away. Even though I know it is me, or at least was… it disgusts me. My hands tremble as I lift them, I look at them carefully. The new skin it pale and smooth, my eyes wander and I look at my shoulder. I feel them. They are slender, if it had been somebody else I could have called it beautiful, but just now it more scares me than anything else. I curl up into a tiny little ball on the stone floor. _

_I don't understand. What is happening to me?_

Manta groaned and shifted his position in the bed. But since he couldn't find his way back to his dreams and sleep for a little while longer, he slowly rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes. Manta yawned big and then got out of the bed, though he was still tired he got dressed and left his room.

'Let's see, the kitchen was down the stairs and then to the left… right?'

Now Manta had lived in Faust's home in Germany for about two weeks, yet he still wasn't so sure of where things were located. But suddenly Manta sniffed the air and smirked to himself.

'_Must be my lucky-day today.'_ Now he had the nice smell of pancakes guiding him to the kitchen.

"Sa, guten morgen Manta. Slept well?" Faust asked as he put up another pancake on a plate.

"Ohayoo, yeah, well I had some strange dreams but nothing I can remember of now." Manta said as he sat down at his chair at the table.

"So desu ka?" Faust said as he put down a plate in front of Manta. "You better eat up now because you're going through some _intense _training today." Faust said with his everlasting smile and then turned around to prepare some breakfast to himself. Manta's fork stopped halfway to his mouth, he glanced down at the plate. Now, he hated the thought of _intensive_ training when he was stuffed with food, but on the other hand... if he didn't eat he wouldn't have any energy at all...

Deciding that it was the lesser of the two devils he started eating absently. Thinking about the most training he'd already gone through (foolishly he'd reckoned it couldn't get much worse) he really didn't want to think of what _intensive _training would mean.

Manta stumbled into his room and clumsily got undressed. Then he fell asleep the same moment his head hit his pillow. And even though he normally wasn't allowed to, Frankensteiny took his chances and jumped up on the bed, too.

**Eh, chapter five, hope it's not that bad but right now it's a fact I'm not so sure how it will continue, oh well, dajioobu. everything works out fine in the end. Uh yeah... that 'so desu ka' that Faust said means like, 'really?' But I couldn't find any English lines that would fit. And I can't speak Germany; so if anyone out there speak German... help? **

**Of course reviews are always appreciated coz they chain me to da computer and force me to keep writing even though I'm not sure what to write. **

**O.o', er, that sounded kinda wierd but that's how it is really...**

**Oh, uh yeah, I'm not really sure how old Manta is (oh gawd, did I do him to childish?!) but I think he's thirteen. But right now I gotta figure out and write the underground tournament, though I'm not sure what the price should be, and not exactly sure how they got to know about the fight and... why they fight and stuff...; any tips will be GREATLY appreciated **


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter six

'_It's okay; I try to tell myself. I repeat it over and over again, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay..._

_I don't know how long I lay there on the cold stone floor, but it felt like hours. _

_But now, I look up and see skeletons, standing perhaps three four meters away from me. They won't move but I know that they feel that I'm aware of them now. I feel no terror as I watch them carefully. They just stand there, still, as if waiting for something to happen. I do not move and nor do any of the skeletons. Now I notice that one of them is carrying clothes in its arms. Another one is carrying a huge scythe. But they just stand there, watching me, waiting. Now I realize something, they need someone to lead them, to give them power enough to move. And they are asking me if I could be that one. Slowly I stand up, and they walk closer, I let them do it. My old clothes had come off along with my old skin, they give me new clothes. They dress me as if I was a doll but I know that I'm the one in control, they only move if I give them my approval. _

_I look at myself. The terror I had felt before is now replaced by... acceptance maybe? I don't know, I feel calm. I take the scythe as one of the skeletons offer it to me. When I take it, and look at it, then back to my old self that is lying on the floor and at the tool in my hands. The skeletons follow me as I decide to leave it all behind. No words need to be spoken. We go out in the night, together._

''''

"You've really improved Manta." Faust said. Manta smiled, it wasn't often the doctor gave compliments but whenever he said them, it made Manta's heart almost skip a beat of joy. And it was true, he watched at his over soul. Frankensteiny was now almost as big as a grown up lion, but that wasn't all. He also used two umbrellas that he'd transformed into a pair of bat like wings. And at Frankensteiny's paws he'd used scalpels as claws. And he'd also let the tailbones, while linked by mana, grow long and it lashed around like a whip when Frankensteiny waged his tail. It was indeed a very powerful and terrifying creature. Faust watched carefully as Manta pet Frankensteiny, and laughed when Frankensteiny rubbed his head against Manta. He thought for a second, then nodded mentally.

"Yes, I think you are ready."

"Huh? Ready for what?" Manta asked and turned to Faust.

"For start fighting other shamans, I've heard that there's qualifying matches in New York. "

"What should I bring with me?" Manta asked himself as he packed his things. Then he sat down at the bed with a huff. He glanced around in the room and then fell back and laid flat on the bed.

It was kinda amazing though, soon he'd travel to US and battle other shamans. Manta wondered what it would be like, what was it like battling another shaman? Was he really strong enough? He didn't want to let down Faust… perhaps it would be best to decline… A bark suddenly interrupted Manta's train of thoughts. Manta glanced down at the floor and saw Frankensteiny who barked again and waged his tail. Manta sat up again, smiling down at the dog.

"Yeah, you're right Franky. Why worry about tomorrow? I'm sure everything's gonna work out fine in the end." Frankensteiny barked again as if agreeing with Manta, and then he prepared himself, and then jumped up on top of the bed.

"Hey! You know you ain't supposed to be on top of the furniture!" Manta said and tried to push down the dog. Frankensteiny skillfully avoided the boy's hands and nuzzled his head into Manta's belly.

"H-hey, stop that! You know I'm-"Then Manta burst into a fit of giggles. And so they struggled for a little while, Manta trying to push away the dog and Frankensteiny skillfully avoiding Manta's hands. But finally, Frankensteiny decided that he had tortured Manta enough and stopped. Manta was panting lightly because he had laughed so much.

"Okay, I, won't worry, about the next fight, okay?" Manta said between his gasping breaths. Then he glanced at the clock that was standing at the night-table. _'Oh shit! Is it that late already?!' _ 

Frankensteiny watched with interest as Manta hurriedly packed down the rest of his stuff and then started preparing to get to bed.

**Er, sorry for it was kind of short. But the next chapters are on their way I promise! Soon the underground tournament will begin! --' though… I'm still not so sure how it will go… oh well. I'll improvise a little then reviews and tips how the story should continue is really appreciated. For now I'll type a little on next chappie before I go to bed. **

**Oyasumi nasai! **


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter seven**

Manta smiled happily to himself as he left the hotel he and Faust was staying at. It was pretty late, or early, depending how one choosed to look at it. Faust had told Manta that he wouldn't be allowed to leave the hotel until he'd finished all the studies Faust had given to him. But now, finally, it was all done. Even though most other people were deep asleep now, Manta didn't feel sleepy at all, not even a tiny bit. And it was once big up side to being awake when it was most likely when most other weren't.

"Come on Franky, let's go." Manta called out and Frankensteiny skipped after him.

Even though Frankensteiny was indeed very dead it didn't stop him from acting like most dogs do. While he followed Manta he also sniffed the air, skipped ahead and barked at a few cats (that ran away as fast as their furry legs could carry them) and then returned to Manta when he called out after him.

After a while of walking Manta and Frankensteiny reached a playground. Manta sat down in one of the empty swings and looked absentmindedly at Frankensteiny who had decided to explore the area. Suddenly he stopped and listened. That caught Manta's attention and he started listening, too. A pair of small feet that was running and then a other couple of feet, also running. Now he also could hear voices.

"Hey, wait up girl! Fuck, she's fast!" It was a male voice.

"Since you won't leave me alone, Mikkel!" a young female voice cried out. "Hyoi gattai!" By now Manta had jumped off the swing and was heading towards the scene.

What he could see was this, a little girl that was holding a sprit ball and preparing for integration. Then there were two boys, older teens, that were obvious to what the little girl was doing.

"Here we go!" The little girl cried out and tackled one of the guys. Then she quickly ran on all four out of reach. Now Manta noticed that she'd grown pointy cat-like ears that was poking out of either side of her head and a furry tail. The little girl growled as she circled around the two boys, the one that she'd knocked to the ground was now slowly standing up, grunting as he did so.

"Oh look Dan, she thinks she's a tough little werewolf." One of them said in a mockingly voice but his eyes showed something more. "Dan" seemed to understand something unspoken and grinned.

"No Alan, it ain't a werewolf," he sneered. "It's a little nasty street-mutt, don' ya think?" They both laughed.

The little girl growled and lunged forward, apparently blind with rage. BIG MISTAKE. Before she knew it she was grabbed in midair. Both guys now laughed at her, holding her by the neck of her shirt and watched her twist and turn in attempts to get away. She glared at the person holding her before she buried her sharp teeth in his arm.

"Yeowch!!" He howled, but she was impossible to get off, instead se bit with all force that she could muster and also buried her claws in his arms. "fuck you, lettme go!" With his other hand he tried to free himself by hitting her. "You sick fuck, let me fucking go!" the hits poured down on her but she refused to let go.

But finally, she couldn't maintain her grip on him and was sent crashing into a wall. Before soon both boys, approached the girl again. She screamed as they hit and kicked her. Now Manta had seen enough.

"Yameru!" He stepped forward. "Let her go or else. Frankensteiny, attack!" But the sight of the skeleton dog was more than enough to scare them away. Both of them ran away as quickly as their legs could carry them without looking back.

"Hey, are you okay?" Manta asked but was only answered by huge questioning eyes. He repeated his question before he realized himself.

"Um… are you all right?" He said with broken English and this time he received an answer.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Thanks for helping me." She stood up, leaning slightly against the wall. "You're not from around here are ya?"

"No, I am from Japan, why were those men chasing you?"

"I… am afraid that might be my fault…" a fox spirit spoke as turned off the spirit integration. "I let my guard down and spoke to Lilly without checking if anybody was around first." The fox spirit hung with his head.

"Don't be like that Mikkel, you can't always watch my back you know." Lilly said as she hugged her spirit tightly, for a moment she seemed to forget that Manta was there but then realized herself.

"Um, sorry." She said with a little blush. "I'm Lilly and this is my guardian spirit Mikkel."

"My name is Manta, yorushiku onegaishimasu." Then he felt something stroke against his hand and looked down. "Oh, and this is Frankensteiny." At this Frankensteiny barked and waged his tail.

"So, you're a necromancer…" Lilly said with awe as she'd (or rather Mikkel) had accepted that Manta could follow her home.

"Yes, I am." Manta said while grinning, this was the first time ever someone was _admiring _him for his shamanic powers.

"That's so amazing." Lilly said as she watched Frankensteiny walk beside her, then her face saddened. "Myself I can only do hyoi gattai." She mumbled quietly, then she pointed towards a building in front of them. "That's where I live."

"U-huh." Manta didn't know what to say. The 'house' wasn't really in top shape. To be honest, it looked pretty old and battered and, well, maybe a tiny bit neglected, too. But of course Manta knew better that saying that out loud.

"Oh, I nearly forgot." Lilly said as she was about to open the door, "Mom and dad, is a little bit… different than other parents, so you better prepare yourself." She opened the door slowly. "But they are nice people, really." Lilly said with a faint smile.

"I'm home." Lilly called out to the seemingly empty house.

"Welcome home dear. " At first it seemed like the voice had sprung out of nowhere but then Manta saw that it belonged to a spirit, a woman with long light-brown hair and a gentle smile that soon was replaced with a face of hesitation as she noticed Manta.

"It's okay mom, he can see you."

"Oh, I see… that's good." The spirit sighted with relief and put a hand on her chest. "Then you must be my daughter's friend, pleased to meet you, my name is Mary."

"Um… hi, I my name is Manta."

"Please don't stand there outside, come in, come in!" But before Manta could move another ghost appeared, a male one this time.

"Welcome home sweethea-" The male ghost stopped when he noticed Manta but then smirked. "What's this? My little Lilly have already gotten a boyfriend? Oh gosh, now I really start to see what people mean by that children grow up quickly nowadays." He put his translutant hand on top of Lilly's head and ruffled her hair.

"Daddy!" Lilly cried; her face was turning into a deeper tone of red.

'''

**Um, this may seem as a weird place to cut the chapter but otherwise it'd probably grow way too much. Hopefully I'll put up the next chapter soon. BTW, I still haven't figured out a name for Lilly's dad yet; any suggestion? **

**Sorry for not updating for so long but as I said, don't really know what to write. Besides, school started a couple of weeks ago TT 'I got so much work to do.' Anyhow; reviews are the little things that keep me going (without 'em, I'd probably just lied down and died) and tell me that people like this fic and that it's worth writing. **


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter eight **

**Okay, this is how I see it now with the writing in this story, it won't make your eyes bleed= good enough to read. (please tell me if I'm doing something wrong and I'll try to improve it next time)**

"Tea?"

"Um, what? Ah, yes please."

"Okay, then I'll make some for us." Manta had still not gotten over the chock that both Lilly's parents were… well… deceased, but still were at her side. _'Doesn't she have anyone else?'_ Perhaps it was so, Manta felt an increase of worry for the little girl.

Lilly opened up a few drawers and used them as a stair when she climbed to reach the upper cabinet.

"Ano, do need help?" Manta asked as he heard a few mutters from Lilly that were mostly about that things mostly wasn't in its right place when you needed them the most.

"No thanks, I've found it." Lilly chirped happily and jumped down on the floor. "Now it's just to put the kettle on." Lilly had to stand on a small stool in order to be able to put the kettle (which she also had to struggle with as it was heavy with water) on the oven.

"This shouldn't take so long…" Lilly sat down at the table as she waited for the water to boil.

"Um… so you live alone?" Manta really didn't know how to phrase it but he simply had to ask.

"No, I'm not alone, I got mom, dad and Mikkel to watch over me." Lilly said, obvious to what Manta actually meant. Manta looked deep down in is cup as he thought for a second, right now the tea was too hot to drink.

"I meant living people to take care of you." Manta quickly took a sip from his cup and burned his tongue slightly, did his statement really sound that stupid? He mentally scowled at himself as he glanced at Lilly's face. First it showed an expression of chock and then sadness, she looked down in her cup as she spoke.

"No, in that way I guess I'm on my own…"

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

"It's okay, it's only natural that you wonder." Lilly said and blew at her tea so it would cool down enough to be drinkable. "Dad died before mom in a car accident when I was four, but since both mom and I could see ghosts it wasn't that big problem really. I've been able to see ghosts as long as I can remember. But mom had an incurable disease since long time before the car accident, we all knew that she'd pass away sooner or later. She looked hard trying to find a shaman family that could adopt me when she was gone but she didn't find any… and then she… died." She was silent for a moment. "But it's okay, I've heard that it's going to be an underground tournament and that the price is that you'll be able to bring two people back to life."

"It's only a rumor Lilly." Mikkel spoke as he appeared. "It might just as well be nothing but rubbish and anyhow I don't think you're strong enough to participate."

"But Mikkel this might be our only chance to bring back mom and dad! I'll train harder."

"It's not that you're not training hard enough, you're simply too young and inexperienced. You might get hurt if you start competing this early."

"What he says is true honey, you're not ready yet."

"But mom! This might be our only chance!"

***.

"I simply don't know what to do with her," Mikkel sighted when he 'walked' Manta to the door. Lilly was doing the dishes; she'd suddenly exclaimed that she'd postponed it for two days now and that Manta should return home before the sunrise and people would notice Frankensteiny.

"I know she's strong, but she's not even near strong enough to participate." Mikkel said with a worried voice. "As I am her guardian ghost it's my duty to protect her but… how am I supposed to protect someone that refuse to listen?"

'_How do you protect a person who refuses to listen?' _ Manta turned over in his mind what Mikkel had said over and over again. Frankensteiny, as if sensing his master's worry walked beside him with his tail hung low and whined, now and then glancing up at Manta.

"Hm, nani?" Manta suddenly spoke as he felt something nibble at his hand. Looking down he realized that it was Frankensteiny. Since the dog was entirely made of bones it didn't have any tongue to lick his master's hand, but he did his best. He rested his jawbone against Manta's hand and whined as he had caught his attention.

"I'm okay Franky, don't worry about me." Manta said reassuringly as he patted Frankensteiny with a faint smile on his lips. But it was true what Mikkel had said, if Lilly would participate in the tournament she could end up hurt or worse.

"Tadaima" Manta said as he walked up the stairs and opened the door that lead to his and Faust's room at the hotel.

"Ah, welcome back. It sure must have been a long walk, I was nearly getting worried about you." Faust said, glancing over his book. "Did something special happen?"

"Yeah…" Manta told Faust what had happened. How he'd rescued Lilly and that she was an orphan that wanted to bring her parents back to life by entering the shaman tournament.

"Hm… I've heard about this rumor too." Faust said with a thoughtful voice. "The one who wins will get a wish and it's possible to wish somebody back to life… and that's also why I'll participate. Yet I can feel sympathy for the girl…"

Manta was just going to answer but forgot what he was going say as he noticed something. It was a flame hovering in the air. Perhaps it somehow sensed the attention that now was directed at it and approached them. When it was roughly a meter from Manta it stopped still floating in the air. A low growl could be heard from Frankensteiny as he slowly crept forward until he was beside Manta. A sizzling sound could be heard as the flame suddenly fell to the floor. The second it touched the floor the red flames disappeared into smoke. It all went too quickly to actually see what'd happened but on there on the floor now lay an envelope.

When Manta picked it up for a closer look he saw that it was sealed, it was a burning feather that was engraved in blood red wax. He nibbled little at the letter, and then looked up at Faust with the question unspoken in his eyes. Faust nodded slightly and Manta, returning his eyes to the envelope, carefully opened it. He read out loud.

_Dear Manta Oyamada, your application to enter the shaman tournament has been approved. Congratulation. Though you shouldn't celebrate yet as your first fight is coming up within next week. It is set at the town's cemetery 2 o' clock at night to prevent any non shamanic interference. You have to show up at the definite time in order to truly enter the shaman fight. If you do not come at the decided time you will be disqualified and cannot participate until during the next tournament. Of course can you bring anyone with you to watch the fight just as long as they won't interfere. _

_The fight is over when either of the participants can't keep their oversoul intact or choose to give up. There's no time limit and remember to try to use your surroundings to your advantage. _

_As for the rest, keep in mind to take care of yourself before the fight and there will be shamans with medical education in the background ready to attend anyone of the participants that's hurt during the battle. _

_The organizers of the shaman tournament. _

The exact second that Manta had finished reading the letter it started to reek and he instinctively dropped it. The paper sizzled as it crumbled and went up into flames. As it landed on the floor the flames for a split second formed a feather before it disappeared into smoke, not even leaving a mark in the carpet.

Frankensteiny sniffed at the place where the letter had landed and growled quietly.

"Shh… it's okay Franky…" Manta spoke as he gently stroke the dog's spine carefully. _'Amazing…' _Manta murmured _'but… who is that sent the letter?' _

"Well then," Faust suddenly said, closing his book with a loud flap, "I guess we have to double the training then." He said with a gentle smile. "Even though I'll participate too I don't wish that my apprentice will perform poorly."

Manta felt a huge sweat drop starting to form.

**Harro. I'm sorry for the late update but it was school and it was hard to find the right words (aka writer's block?) and then Japanese class ended so late and I was so tired during the weekends and… okay you may yell at me T-T I could do so much better if I tried harder… but anyhow here's chapter 8, hope you like it3 **

**o.O thank you sooo much for your reviews guys! **

**Lady Frieza D- You've changed your name so I didn't recognize you at first… noo, she fainted! DON'T DIEEEE!!! If, if you die then who will draw awesome Faust pics? –gives heart massage and first aid- **

**Kerokacola- wish u were logged in so I could tell you that I've updated. Oh well ") I'm happy that you like it. **

**13IsTaLkThEaKaTsUkI13 ((man, how do you even remember you name?)) thank you for the comment :D about Lilly's dad… well… not much I can say about him, he's a nice guy who loves his wife and kid even though he's been dead a while now. **

**Also, just a little note over jap phrases they use,**

**Ano- means like "well…" and is softening up the sentence (but it can also mean 'that thing over there' but then it have to have a subject following it)**

**Nani- what? Huh? (though you probably knew that already) **

**Tadaima- 'I'm home' said when returning back home (how you say welcome home is 'Okaeri nasai' though, you can leave out nasai depending on how polite you wish to be)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter nine- It's funny really. I never intended to make this fanfic so long, it's about 20 pages long now and contains over 13000 words! It's like... IT'S OVER 9000!!! Ah, I know it's a classy joke but heck, I've wanted to say that for a time now... moreover is also how popular it have gotten, I'd never imagined that so many would review and put me on watch, you guys are the best!**

Lilly was sweeping the doorstep, gently humming on a tune. Now and then leaning on her broom and staring off into the clouded sky dreamily, it was a rather beautiful day. Her mind was flying high above the clouds when she suddenly was called back to earth by something wining and scraping at her feet. She looked down and flinched slightly at the sight, it was a skeleton dog.

"Um… hi Frankensteiny. What do you have there?" The dog was carrying an envelope in its mouth, he raised his head towards her with a quiet 'wuff' before she took it. Inside there was a note which read:

_Hi Lilly, how are you? I've received a message yesterday about my first battle in the shaman tournament. It's 2 o' clock at the cemetery next Thursday. If you don't have something else you have to do perhaps you could come and watch? Faust is going to be there (he's the one who's teaching me necromancy, I don't think I mentioned him…) but I'd be happy if you came too. _

_I'm sorry I couldn't tell you this personally but Faust have just doubled my training and on top of that I still have to study so I hardly had time to even write this letter, so I hope you don't mind I sent Frankensteiny instead. I hope he didn't scare you, he's actually quite nice and if you want to come to the graveyard and watch the fight you can just write a little note and Frankensteiny will bring it back. Please don't worry about him getting spotted by people, he's actually an awfully lot quicker than he looks and I told him to avoid larger groups of people, so if anyone happens to see him it'll most likely just be one or two people and it'd be just a short second so they'd think it was just their imagination._

The rest of the note looked as if it'd been written down rather hastily, yet it was far from unreadable.

_I'm sorry if this letter was kind of short but I have to finish this book he gave me now before the next training schedule. _

_Manta_

As soon as she had finished reading she knew what the answer would be.

_I'll be there cheering on ya! As long as Mikkel can come along it's nothing mom and dad wouldn't agree on. See you next Thursday. _

_Lilly_

She scribbled it down hastily on the other side of the paper as Frankensteiny nervously trampled with his paws, as if anxious to return to Manta as quick as possible. And as soon as she'd given back the letter Frankensteiny he scurried away with the piece of paper clasped between his teeth. Lilly stood still, leaning slightly on her broom and gazed after Frankensteiny even after he'd disappeared behind the corner of the street.

**______A word from the writer------------------that the TV saves electricity when it's on 'stand by' is a myth. It's still eating electricity, s****o when you leave for school please just turn it off fully and then pull the plug----I'd make me very happy if you could do that----many small changes can make huge difference------remember that-------------------------**

A gentle wind was blowing, riffling Manta's hair slightly as he sat by the cemetery gates, waiting for Lilly to come. He was sitting on the ground, leaning his back at the brick wall. He stared into the dark alleyway and then glanced at his watch. 01.45. He sighted, if Lilly didn't show up soon he'd have to enter the graveyard and she might miss the battle. Then he suddenly heard the gentle tapping of a pair of feet that was running over the pavement.

"Hi! I'm sorry I got a bit late, I-"

"It's okay Lilly, you don't have to apologize." Manta said with a soft smile as he stood up, "the important thing is that you're here and that's all that matters."

Lilly opened her mouth as if she was about to say anything but she made no sound, a second later she broke up into a big grin with whole her face flustered.

The gate made a huge wining noise as they opened it and entered.

"By the way… where's Faust and Frankensteiny?" Lilly asked suddenly, realizing that she hadn't seen Manta's teacher yet.

"Oh, Faust said that he'd come just before the battle have started, he have a lot of work to do" Manta added when Lilly quirked an eyebrow. "And Frankensteiny is-"Manta raised the bag he was carrying but before he could say anything else he grabbed Lilly and jumped out of the way of two ninja stars that cut into the ground, where they'd been standing just a few seconds ago.

"Oh, looks like my opponent's better than I first though…" The voice came from above and Manta scanned the trees. The young boy that was sitting in one of them didn't even try to hide. Manta glared at the boy when he slowly put down Lilly on the ground, his eyes never leaving the boy. The boy on the other hand replied with a grin and said, "Manta Oyamada I guess?" His accent was rather American, not that Manta could determine exactly where the boy could be coming from. "I'm James and I've won fiftyeleven battles," his grin grew wider as the sentence continued, "and this' gonna be the fiftytwelfth one."

Manta still glared. "The match hasn't even started yet." He said with a low voice.

"Aw, c'mon I didn't even aim for the deadliest parts, if you'd been hit it'd only meant that you'd been stuck to a wheelchair for a while. However…" now a ghost materialized right beside the boy, the lower part of its face was covered in bandage and the right eye was hidden by black hair. The visible left eye was bloodshot and staring down at Manta and Lilly with nothing that couldn't be seen as murderous intent. "with Kage on my side, there's no problem with hitting the jackpot."

Manta grit his teeth then turned towards Lilly. "Lilly, go to somewhere safe now, the match begins in only a few minutes." Lilly was stunned by the seriousness in both Manta's voice and eyes and didn't move, merely jus wincing as she stared at him.

"Hey, don't ignore me!" James shouted up from the tree making both Manta and Lilly twitch and look back at him. "You haven't even showed me your ghost yet, why are you hiding him?" he asked and then added with a smirk. "You're embarrassed over it, eh?"

"Lilly," Manta turned back to the little girl but before he could say anything he was interrupted by the opponent.

"Hey don't ya ignore me!" Lilly didn't even see the ninja star that cut a huge rip in Manta's bag, several things fell out of it, among them Frankensteiny's skeleton.

A moment passed.

Then James let out a shrill cry.

"W-what the?! BONES?! ARE YOU SOME KIND OF SICK FETISH NECROPHILIAC?!" Then the American ninja fell out of the tree and landed in the bushes below.

"What's happening here?" Now Mikkel appeared by Lilly's side and looked around sleepily.

"You, you, pervert!" James stood up and now pointed an accusing finger at Manta. "You sick, sick, sick per-" Suddenly a loud and noisy 'beep' could be heard in the vicinity.

"The fight between Oyamada Manta and James Gates will start within 30 seconds, those who are nonparticipant, please step back to a distance at least 200 meters for your own safety." A mysterious man said in a loud voice, his face was hidden behind a mask with birdlike features that covered his whole face.

"Who the heck are you?!" James cried, now pointing at the mysterious man with a bird mask.

"I'm one of the officiates of this tournament and it's my job to make sure everything goes fairly and that no one will interfere." The man said with a muffled voice because of the mask, yet words could not be mistaken. "And the match will now begin in…" He looked at his watch and started counting down. "15 seconds."

Again Manta told Lilly to run away to somewhere safe and this time she obeyed without further ado. Letting Mikkel lead her way, they both headed towards a pretty large mausoleum which had several trees surrounding it.

"10 seconds"

Manta started to prepare himself for the battle, slowly reaching out and feeling Frankensteiny's spirit, carefully feeding it with mana. Letting it grow.

"5 seconds."

Manta felt a sudden jolt going through his spine as Frankensteiny twitched before standing up, did he share Manta's nervous feelings seconds before the battle? He let out a fierce snarl.

"3, 2-" Suddenly there was a huge flash of light, forcing Lilly to squint and making her eyes fill with tears. When she opened her eyes again her vision was full of black-white and purple stars, making it very hard to see.

"Oupsie" James half hid a grin behind his hand. "Guess I got a little bit over thrilled, my bad." He had struck an enormous shuriken that into the ground. The place where Manta had stood just a split second ago.

"But forgive and forget, eh?" With unbelievable easiness he pulled up his death star and attacked again. Manta took a huge leap backwards, avoiding the sharp edges that easily could put one out of fighting trim, or worse. James grinned. "What's the matter? Are u a coward? C'mon gimme your best sho-!" without the American ninja had noticed Frankensteiny had sneaked up behind him and buried his teeth into James'… well, behind.

The American ninja's eye twitched, then he cried out and started running around in circles trying to get the dog to loosen its grip.

"Ah! Ah! It hurts! I'm gonna get sick and gonna get rabies!" Actually, it looked kind of humorous but none of the watchers laughed, least of all Manta. He was watching the scene with grim eyes as he started to summon energy again. He needed some extra time now, for his next move was rather complicated and he needed to concentrate. "Bad doggie!" With a final twist that more or less looked like some kind of awkward dance, James sent Frankensteiny crashing into the closest tree.

'_Not good' _

Manta didn't have enough mana yet and now he had to concentrate all his remaining energy to doge James furious attacks with death stars and kunais. But even though you could block hundreds, thousands attacks, sooner or later you would get hit. This Manta knew, almost too well as he felt a sharp stinging pain in his face. As he managed to pull back far enough not to get his throat slit up, his cheek hadn't been so lucky. He took a huge leap backwards, out of reach for body combat.

A smirk played on his opponent's lips. He dropped the kunai he had in his hand to ground, it fell with a low 'thud' and pulled out a sword seemingly from nowhere as the sheath has been attached to his back. The sound was menacingly. He took a step forward as grin grew even wider. Suddenly Manta fell to the ground, one knee on the dirty soil with both of his hands in front of him, palms pointing downwards.

'_This is it! He's gonna kill Manta!' _Without a moment of hesitation Lilly transformed Mikkel into his spirit ball mode and prepared herself to dash forward to save her newfound friend. However, a gloved and gentle hand on her shoulder stopped her, maybe from doing something rash.

"Please wait young miss, and watch." It was a calm and very polite voice, though it hid a slightest hint of an accent which Lilly wasn't sure where to place.

"But he's gonna kill him! He's gonna kill Man-"

"Shh, look." He, as was a male voice, let go of her shoulder and pointed towards the scene. "He's about to show the real power of necromancy."

James grin grew even wider as he slowly stepped closer to the now slightly trembling figure before him.

"Too much for ya, eh? Ya should've known from the beginning that u wouldn't win. Ya need to have a strong spirit ally for that, like this one" James pointed towards his ghost with his thumb as it materialized behind him. "not bones. However, I feel kinda nice today, so how about you start begging for mercy and I _just _send you to hospital for three months?"

"T-there's no need for that." Manta raised his head, watching his enemy with a strained expression. "I, can still fight."

"Hm? We'll see about that then." Kage faded away again and James raised his sword, but when he attempted to move he soon found out that he was stuck. Instinctively he looked for the reason why that was, then his eyes dilated. A skeleton hand had a firm grip around his wrist. A shrill and very unmanly shriek rang through the whole area.

'_Good, he's keeping himself busy.' _Manta mused _'This might take some time.'_ Again Manta focusing energy while as the American ninja battled the skeleton that crawled out of the ground, all while screaming in facet.

--.

_Linking together, it was all linking together. Frankensteiny which had lied at the roots of the tree which he'd crashed into stood up shakingly, his master was calling for him. He needed to answer. He started running. _

--.

With a final and very loud cry, James cut his enemy in half with a well aimed strike for the spine. But still it was moving slightly, the upper part was crawling towards him with its hand stretched out. And yet again a girly screech was heard in the area as kicked the skeleton's skull, making it fly several meters.

"Ya, ya sick… sicko! No mo' nice guy nomore!" He was panting heavily as he pulled forward a death star about the size of his arm. "This time's for real!" He threw it, aiming for the face.

There was no time to duck, but a blank expression on his face, Manta knew that it wouldn't be necessary. Frankensteiny caught it with his mouth as he'd jumped forward to protect his master. "Good dog, Franky." Manta spoke with the slight hint of a smile which however soon turned into a serious expression. "You're right James, it's time to stop fooling around."

As he had already summoned enough mana already, all Manta had to do was to close his eyes and focus.

--.

_A slight breeze was blowing gently through the trees as a moth slowly crawled out of its cocoon. Rather carefully it moved its wings for the first time as the veins started pumping blood into its dully grey wings. It was a very beautiful night with the soon to be full moon lightning up dark. The moth's wings twitched slightly, testing them before taking off and flying off into the night. Letting the moon show its way. _

_--._

Frankensteiny let out a bone chilling howl as the transformation was complete. Now at the size of a lion, he stretched out his dark wings and dug his sharp claws into the ground as he eyed his opponent. A low growl rumbled in his chest.

"oh shi-" James blurted out before realizing himself. "I'm not scared! This'll be a piece o' cake." Though, the now rather pale face of him spoke differently. "Heh, I just underestimated you that's all but that's no problem." He let out a nervous chuckle. "Just means that I'll just have to work a little bit harder for my fiftytwelfth victory than I thought that's all." As he spoke those words he started to do several different signs with his hands at the speed of light. Suddenly he stopped as a million of small lights surrounded him, like a huge pack of fireflies. "Check out my awesome-ninja-of-death-oversoul-attack! It's wicked!" Then it occurred to Manta that it wasn't fireflies as they advanced forward.

Explosion. Lilly felt her eyes grew wider than though was possible as the scene had played out before her. James had put his guardian ghost into hundreds, maybe thousands death stars and kunais and… all sorts of dangerous ninja-things that she didn't even know the name of! And then they had charged forward towards Manta so quick that it looked like a huge lightning bolt. At the sound of wood splintering she let out a startled cry.

"Hehehe…" James lowered the arm he'd put in front of his eyes to protect them. "It's over." He said with a sly voice.

"No, not yet." Manta's voice, but how? Where? James looked around with darting eyes. Where he'd attacked all he could see was a tree, so damaged that it probably was a miracle it was still standing up, but not the least trace of Manta.

"Up here." James snapped his head upwards. High above the treetops Frankensteiny was beating his wings slowly, Manta sitting on his back. He watched his opponent with an expressionless face, which was utterly grim in the mind of James as he looked up. Yet, what was unknown to the ninja was that Manta wasn't at all planning to dive down and do a vicious attack, in fact he was merely watching the scene while carefully pondering over his options. A laidback and reflective thoughtfulness that was one of the characteristic parts of Manta's personality, a tactic that was often very useful during tests or other stressful situations.

"Damn it!" Again James started doing signs with his hands at the speed of light. "I ain't gonna loose, I'm gonna blast ya off so hard that they'll hafta hire astronauts if they wanna find ya!" Again he was surrounded by that familiar glow. However this time the lights suddenly disappeared. With perhaps a few seconds of reconsideration Frankensteiny suddenly dived, his scalpel claws stretched out. James let out a shriek.

James opened his eyes slowly. He expected to see blood, to feel pain, to see his torn body… but, there was none of that. Instead there were several marks, claw marks, dug deep into the ground just at the side of him. He had been a clear shot and Manta could ended the battle easily… so why didn't he?

"What, why didn't ya…" James trailed off. He couldn't find the right words. All he could do was glance back and forth between the gigantic claw marks in the ground and back to Manta with huge eyes. Chock was written all over his face.

"Um…" Manta started, looking somewhat embarrassed. He scratched his head in a try to ease the tension in the air. Apparently, it didn't work. "You had used up all your mana so… it wasn't really necessary to…"

"Hereby I declare the battle between James Gates and Manta Oyamada over and Manta Oyamada as the winner." The officiate exclaimed, putting up both his hands in the air in face level.

"Master." A sly voice suddenly spoke as Kage materialized behind James, glaring at Manta with his only burning eye. "I recommend that we should retire, we will have another chance to reach to finals but a warrior needs to rest to regain his strength." The shadow's voice that hadn't been heard until now but like its eye it full of burning hate and rage and… blood thirst. "I recommend that we come again another day my master."

"Yeah, I suppose so." James spoke. "See ya next time punks!" He threw something small to the ground and in less than a second a radius of thirty meters was covered in smoke. Manta raised his arm to his eyes and started coffing violently. Whatever this smoke was it was something that irritated his throat and made his eyes sting, a classic ninja trick used during escapes or retreats. However, it was possible that James wasn't completely unaffected as several loud thuds were heard and once or twice a "darn trees."

But soon enough had cleared up and James and his ghost was nowhere to be seen. Manta let his eyes wander around in the area for a second, controlling that James wasn't hiding somewhere in an ambush, then he to walk into the direction where he'd seen Lilly take off.

Lilly looked scared to put it bluntly. She appeared shocked and very frightened, trembling slightly with wide open eyes as Manta approached. But when he was close enough to speak to her she scampered off like a startled animal. He gave Faust a pained frown, which was answered in the same way. A distant sob was heard. "I should probably go to her…" Manta said quietly. Faust gave him no reply but a small nod and silence.

Lilly was hiding behind a gravestone where she cried out her eyes, her sobs shaking her whole little fragile body. It was now most people would ask 'are you okay?' and that was just what Manta did. But he got no reply other than sobs. "Lilly…" He crouched down beside her. "Lilly…" he lifted his hand to touch her but stopped in midair. He glanced over his shoulder. Frankensteiny had followed him, now watching the scene from a distance. Head cocked to one side. In the eyes of normal person, a little girl's eyes… wouldn't he look scary? A huge monster with wings, claws, fangs and above that entirely made of bones. With that in mind he truly could be seen as a creature that had walked out of a nightmare.

And what about himself? He was the one who was controlling him, allowing him to move and turn him into such a hideous creature. Did that make him scary in the eyes of Lilly? A monster he too? He had after all changed a lot lately. Now he'd managed to pull up dead people out of their graves, letting them fight for him in battle. What could it not be seen as horrible? And he didn't even look like he'd done before he'd met Faust. Then, only a few a months ago he had been shorter and chubbier. Now on the contrary he grown at least a decimeter and as the training had been rather harsh, he'd naturally lowered his BMI. Not that he had lost much weight but with the gain of height in mind… he was much skinnier than before. Heck, not face was the same. It had become much less round and eyes more often growing cold… of course he would have to look appalling! He slowly lowered his arm again. There was nothing he could do now, was there? Nothing but disappearing out Lilly's life… Even Mikkel didn't know what to say as he hovered over her in his spirit ball form, he just had a worried and sad expression.

"You were right all the time Mikkel," Lilly suddenly spoke, surprising both Manta and Mikkel. "You were right all the time." A sob now. "I'm not strong enough, not even near strong enough to…" A sharp inhale now. "To enter the tournament or bring mom and dad back!" Now she started, if possible, sobbing even more violently. Nearly a hysterical fit of crying as she now spoke. "I'll never be able to bring mom and dad back!"

"That's not true." A calm voice spoke. Manta looked up and saw Faust standing beside him. Also Lilly looked up, tears still strolling down her cheeks. "There is one way. With the power of necromancy you can revive the dead, allowing a spirit to integrate with its body. It will take a lot of training and hard work and your parents will not fully come back to life as it yet is beyond my knowledge how to make a dead heart start beating again…" Faust let out a sad sight at this before he continued. "But then your parents will be able to touch and pick you up and carry you just as when they were alive."

Lilly stared with wide eyes at the tall and slim man in front of her.

Was it truly possible for her to become a necromancer? Just like Manta? Was it possible? She thought of the of mom's soft voice as she sang when she brushed and braided Lilly's hair. The laughter when dad had picked her up and swung her around in the air, as if she'd been light as a feather.

She imagined to have all that again.

She swallowed in a try to make her voice steady.

"Please teach me."

**Dang, this was a long chapter! I sure hope you're not mad at me for making it too long or letting you wait for so long. I often sit down to look over this fic, but usually I just write a few senteces, and then get stuck when I can't find the right word. -_-' it is hard. And then (the orignal part) I have school where I want to have good grades and extra classes I've added and... during weekends or holidays I just end up doing something else... besides it's an everlasting problem when I don't know how to continue a story. Oh! And about that...**

**I've decided write about the states of my stories in my profile. More that I could use an advice and often I'm not sure which path I should take when continuing a fic. Often I have several ideas but not sure of which I should develop. And sometimes it's the problem "he/she have done that, now what?" If I could get some help with that (please don't be scared to make suggestions, just drop me a PM) I would probably be more inspired to write and update faster. Though, what you should have in mind then that it COULD contain huge spoilers which path the story will take so... please don't visit my profile if you're here for the surprise. (also it will explain several secret references I've put in my stories;P just for fun I mean)**

**also, one last word. The name James (as names often come to me) came totally randomly and (since I added a last name) I want to make it clear I'm not reffering no anyone in real life. Just so you guys know it. **


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter ten –really guys, you should go read a book instead of this s… evacuations of the bowels **

---.

"It's MOOOrning and it's time MOOve- click." Manta Oyamada groaned and buried his face deeper into the pillow. Last night he had forgotten to turn off the alarm clock, probably because of the late homecoming by round the clock of four in the morning. And with all his power and energy drained after the previous battle, he'd just crashed down into his bed, probably dead asleep before his head hit the pillow. He glowered sourly at the cow shaped alarm clock with tired eyes. _'stupid piece of junk, why did I ever get such a silly looking alarm clock?' _ he muttered bitterly in his mind while flipping onto his back and started staring at the ceiling. The truth was that the purchase had been rather hasty while traveling in America, and it had been a special offer… oh well, at least it was working wasn't it? Thoughts about design might come in second hand… Manta closed his eyes and started half dozing.

Suddenly he opened his eyes and his nose started twitching ever so slightly. Bacon and eggs frying in a pan. The smell floated in the air, a rather pleasant smell actually. Manta got out of bed and started changing clothes. He chose a pair of saggy jeans that had been bought at a cheap second hand shop, they had been washed so many times so that they were well on the way to turning into white. Next was a green sweater that luckily didn't smell too funny, or at least he hoped so. Since both Faust and Manta was rather new in the area, they hadn't located any nearby Laundromat yet, resulting that the heap of dirty clothes was growing at a steady pace every day.

He exited for the kitchen but when he had reached his goal he stopped in the door way, watching a rather peculiar scene. Or at least one that he was sure that he hadn't seen before.

"Darling, I think you should turn the bacon now." Lilly's mother was hovering by the stove, watching the frying pan intently even thought she herself had no power to affect its position.

"Just a second mama." Lilly said while she poured out a cup of newly made coffee before she hurriedly put it on the table, in front of her father. "Thank you sweetheart," he said with a little nod before he returned his gaze to the newspaper that was lying wide open on the table and which he was currently reading. Meanwhile Lilly climbed up on a chair that stood by the stove, and started turning the bacon. Her mother was at her side and now and then gave her instructions such as; "that one needs turning, leave that be for a moment or two, that one's done." Mikkel was lying on top of the refrigerator, watching the scene with one sleepy eye.

It was indeed a very peculiar sight, however… there also was something else, it felt… Manta wasn't sure how to describe it, sort of warmth, like warmness in the chest… and yet… a small sorrow when he thought of that it was something he never had. A family, yet not just 'a family' but a caring and loving one, people that truly looked out for each other. The way it was supposed to look. The way it is supposed to look. A portion of bacon and egg had just been scraped up on a plate and Lilly was skipping to the table with it as she suddenly looked up and saw Manta standing in the doorway. She broke off with a huge smile.

"Morning Manta, slept well? I'm making eggs and bacon for breakfast, you want some?" The she stopped and her smile faded as she noticed Manta's expression. "Are you okay Manta?" Already a little worried frown started to take form in her otherwise rather even forehead.

"Why?" Manta smiled gently. "I'm okay." As a change of subject he added; "it's really a delicious scent, do you often cook food like this?" At this Lilly blushed.

"Well yeah, but mom's always there to help me and such." She grinned widely, still her face in a scarlet shade of pink. "But it tastes even better than it smells, come in, come in and have a plate! I can make toast I you like!"

"Lilly," Mikkel spoke from his resting place, "it is like you're inviting him to his own house."

"What, no way!"

---.

And from that on the days seemed to get a bit more cheerful, a week passed without getting any messages about the competition and Faust had thought that this was a great opportunity for Lilly to start her training in necromancy. _'Poor little thing' _Manta had thought secretly at the announcement while Lilly nearly had bounced up and down with joy, eager to start her training. But of course it had anything but easy and joyful. That practicing necromancy was something was rather difficult and hard work was something that Lilly soon realized.

First of all you had to get your body into tip top shape so it would not suffer any greater damages when you started using mana in order to produce an oversoul. And in a way, you could say that was the easier part of the practice. Mental training was nothing for the impatient one, and even though Lilly was both willing and determined to master the art, Manta had occasionally found her poking at the bones as if that could awaken them to life and make them skip and jump.

"_Close your eyes and try to empty your mind" _Manta had said with a calm voice, _"as if you're meditating." _ Perhaps it was cause of her young age, but any attempts that were made to revive the skeleton of Frankensteiny seemed to be destined to failure and at the most she would only sit still for half an hour, with her eyes closed and not uttering one word, before letting out a displeased grunt as she exclaimed; "Oh darn it, this is hopeless!"

Lilly wasn't the only one who had a hard time though, Manta also had to practice, possibly twice as hard and when he wasn't training he was most likely reading a book which Faust had given him. But then again, between the training and studies they did have their own time. Not much of course but still… compared to his earlier life… he'd never want to turn back to it.

He knew that if he'd ever fail there would be no threats of physical punishment or starvation or being locked into a dark room or… but perhaps what was even more important, this was his own choice. The decision had been entirely his own to make, so unlike the future that had been destined for him since birth.

Besides the studies and training they also had several chores, such as going shopping or washing their clothes at a Laundromat. But even though practice and chores took a lot of time of day, almost like some kind of magic, they'd end up with at least a few hours to themselves. During that time Manta taught Lilly some kanji, and in return he got cooking classes by Mary, Lilly's mother.

In a way, you could say that it was rather strange… that even though Manta had exceptionally good grades, he hardly knew how to make a decent meal. Surely he knew how a stove and a microwave worked, but that was about it. But then again, it might not have been all too strange, while living at his parents' residence, there had always been employed chefs that cooked the food, and if you were up late studying, you could simply call one of the many servants or maids to fix you some evening snacks if you felt like it. Manta had never, unless if during punishments, gotten to stay hungry for a longer period of time.

Cooking was fun but hard, Manta reflected, he had dropped several omelets and pancakes on floor, before he'd gotten the hang of using a frying pan. He had also, rather often in fact, cut himself by mistake while preparing something, and on occasion earning himself a couple of burns, some of them had been rather nasty. Once or twice, he'd nearly created a fire. But luckily Lilly had been there and had put a lid on top of the frying pan, suffocating the flames.

(((**An. That's actually what you are supposed to do it if something is starting to burn in a frying pan, suffocates the flames with a lid. Pouring water over it is both a dangerous and bad idea, in case of somebody didn't know …sorry for being a wise-beetch ;P))) **

But in the end had the hard work paid off. Even if Manta was far from becoming a chef at a gourmet restaurant, there had been a remarkable improvement, one that had been praised by Lilly's mother and even kindly commented by Faust himself, as he had been served a supper that had been cooked by Manta.

*****…

'_Today it will be pasta carbonara for dinner,' _Lilly pondered as she walked to the supermarket. Mikkel was floating lazily beside her in his spirit ball form. Usually Manta would accompany her but last night Faust had given him at least a ton of books resulting that he didn't get much sleep that night. He was already small, bluish bags under his eyes due to the constant studies. Surely he claimed that he was all right but still Lilly felt a bit sorry for him and as he'd fallen asleep in the armchair, a thick book resting in his lap, she'd decided that she might just as well go with just Mikkel.

'_and then I'll make chocolate parfait for desert!' _Already in her mind she could see Manta eat parfait, a smile on his face and smiling at HER for making it. As her daydream vision of Manta looked up on her she felt a hot throb in her chest and her cheeks turning a bit rosier than usual. And she would have welcome this new feeling if it only wasn't for… 

"You look happy, are you thinking about someone special?"

"What makes you think that." Lilly stated and looked away, her face was as red as a sunburned tomato.

"Oh nothing," the spirit said with a small grin, "just you staring off into the sunset dreamingly, with an absentminded smile on your lips and you sighting lightly and…"

"Cut it out! I was just looking at the pretty colors!"

"Whatever you say." Mikkel replied with an amused voice. They stayed silent and they both kept on walking (or at least one of them were walking) the setting sun made Lilly's shadow grow long and in a distance you could hear a bird.

Suddenly Lilly stopped.

"What is it?" Mikkel asked.

"..Nothing," it took a moment before Lilly replied, "I just… had this kinda feeling…" but the she shrugged her shoulders "it's probably nothing," and started walking again.

It looked as if a small child had painted the sky with its fingers. A very happy child, one could think, making the sky joyfully colored with hundreds of shades of red, pink, orange, yellow and violet, and then finishing the masterpiece by giving the sun a warm and glowing tint of gold. Even if it sounded a bit cliché, it was truly beautiful. Romantic even. Lilly was sure that if Manta had come with her he could have explained how the sky could turn into such a great display of colours, when it usually just stayed blue during the day when the sun was up.

"Isn't it a bit late, for a little girl like you to be outside walking all by yourself?" It was an unknown voice, but Lilly had not time to reflect upon it as strong claws seized an iron grip upon her and she saw how quickly her feet were leaving the ground. Within a moment she started to scream.

"Let me go! Let me go!" Then she glanced down, she was hanging at least a hundred meters above the ground, she felt her insides freeze. "No on second thought, please don't let me go!"

Mikkel just stared in horror as his mistress and companion was lifted high up in the air by a creature, no, MONSTER that he'd never seen anything lookalike to it. Its wings were beating heavily but had no trouble staying in the air. Upon its back there was a person who spoke up.

"Tell the young necromancer that if he ever wants to see his friend again he'll go to the park at midnight." The beast let out a roar before it flew higher up into the sky, disappearing behind the clouds.

The fox spirit briefly considered following after them but soon decided against it. Even if he would be able to find them, he would never be able to free Lilly and if he did, the monster might drop her into a certain death.

He blinked once, trying to get over the chock. Helpless, no, useless than ever. He was a failure as Lilly's friend and guardian. An utter and complete failure, an insult to all spiritual guardians around the world, he didn't even deserve to call himself that. He felt like his was going to cry.

Mikkel turned around and quickly made his way back to the hotel. He was travelling with the speed of mind.

**Dun dun dun… cliffhanger, I do hate it but I'm already late with the promised update… -gets hit by a rock- **

**Ugh! It's way too late already and I'm way too tired to read it all through one more time. If you find any mistakes please forgive me then, gwah… I know this piece have probably taken much too long for all you guys but really, my life is just killing me. ((Hey! I could use that as a quote! XD)) **

**That wakeup alarm clock was more or less inspired by a TV commercial I saw once, it was about ringtones and animations for cell phones, though I don't buy that sort of stuff, way too suspicions and not to mention expensive in the end. Besides my cell is probably too old for that anyway, its friggin six years old now! Still working though, and I'm happy as long as I can use it to phone and text people with it, OUTLOOKS IS NOT EVERYTHING KIDS! To have a functioning kidney is an important part of life, too! **

**Me Gawd, I just thought of something! ((… don't laugh, it's not a joke!)) I'm so sorry if you guys don't like the adding of so many oc:s! I'm really sorry, but everyone has a purpose in the story and I'll try my best to keep the quality as high as possible! I hope that no one is angry with me, feel free to dewatch the story or whatever you want, please don't flame me! I'll try to keep the characters so simple and not Mary-Sue-ish as possible. NO OCXcannon character! Yes, Lilly likes Manta but it just happened! They won't turn into a lovey dovey couple! **

…**my original characters have flaws… they're far from perfect… I'm sorry, I'm sorry! TTxTT **


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